I am a Kentucky mountain girl far from home, perhaps far from the girl years. Still, my heart longs to return to the top of Low Gap mountain and peer off into the distance; to see the hills rolling and tumbling out before me, and the wind ruffling the trees' leaves, causing them to ripple like waves in some immense pond.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Today I was talking with Cheyenne a bit about being on the web so to speak. I mean, I know The Kentucky Mountain Girl News isn't really important to a lot of people on an average. Some people are interested though because the hit counter keeps going up, which is WONDERFUL! However, The News is important to me and it is important I do as good a job as possible.

All I have ever wanted, all my life, is for people to read what I've written and it is so hard to get things accepted out there in The Publication World, but I'm working on it. I have yet to submit something Out There this year, but this year has started with a bang and looks as if it isn't going to slow down any time soon. This just means I cut things out I absolutely don't need to do and concentrate on the writing process as much as possible. Used to, this would depress me beyond belief. Not because it was work or was hard and I had to really schedule things in order to do what I need to do, but because of the uncertainty of sending off my work and having to wait for an answer as to whether or not it was accepted. I always geared myself to prepare for it being rejected.

Now, the thought of sending something off doesn't depress me. Why? Because of The Web. I mean, here I am, this little woman in her house, sitting in a wheelchair and writing things and submitting them to readers out there. I don't know who you are. (Although, it would be nice for some of you to at least sign the guest book.) Still, I know my words are being read by someone and it gives me a sense of responsibility I have not experienced before. In fact, I am very careful about what I publish on The News and try and take as much responsibility for what I say as possible.

This really didn't come home, be totally real, until I realized I had some articles I probably won't post for a while, if ever, because, although they are very interesting to me, they may affect someone out there very negatively. Being negative isn't the purpose of The News.

Cheyenne has a Blog of his own and I said today, "Keep writing. Keep putting things out there because, face it, you're on The World Wide Web and millions of people have the possibility of reading your work now."

"Don't tell me that," he said, "because if I start thinking about it I'll get nervous and take it down."

My response was, "Why? This should be YEAH! for you." And that's the way I really look at it.

Writing and having my words read by people, possibly making a difference, being outspoken, and entertaining with my words has been all I have ever wanted to do. Since The News is here I have a confidence I never knew I had before: If I can write for an audience I don't see, and they appear to like what I'm writing, then surely it is possible for me to submit stories and poems and damn the rejection slips, full steam ahead for me.

I guess the short of this thing is - thank you. Thank you for reading this little Blog and helping me get back the confidence I thought was lost to me forever.